Why does everything have to be so black and white? Of course, no enterprise should be allowing random unencrypted USB drives unfettered access to its network. However, there are plenty of offerings for hardware encrypted USB drives that can be remotely managed. Most also include the option to have onboard AV/malware scanning. Virtually all of these organizations have robust endpoint security systems in place and could simply whitelist only approved devices that meet security requirements and deny all else. DLP policies can be used to monitor activity the same way that internet activity can be tracked. This approach greatly reduces data breach vulnerabilities while also allowing certain employees to have tools they need to do their jobs.
Sorry, didn’t mean to be condescending - yes I am used to working in large corporate and government organizations that tend to have very tightly controlled environments. Mostly to the point that things can’t get done because of their policies.
Most of these organizations restrict internet access to a very tightly controlled list of “legitimate” uses - no webmail, no video, no streaming, no social media, etc. etc.
I often forget that this is not normal, thanks for reminding me 
Unfortunately this is how large organizations think/operate. People often associate “bureaucracy” with government, but it is a feature of any organization of a certain size. If something is happening you don’t want to happen, you think of a business rule to impose on the structure that prevents that thing from happening. The point of the rule is to be able to sort out who is following the rule and who is not so that it can be determined whether the rule is working. If the rule doesn’t solve the problem, you add another rule.
I was a little rude in my reply to the previous person. I forget that not everyone has had the experience of working in large corporate / financial / government / DoD / Healthcare environments where things are so locked down it takes literally days to get simple tasks done.
Spot on, Humbabella. Far too many things are done with broad strokes when there are sometimes simple approaches that can also easily address the solution.
That’s not my point. Oh look this company info that would be useful in my new job the boss doesn’t know about yet or rival company will pay me $$$$ for cause current employer hasn’t given anyone a raise in 5 years. Let me put this on a thumb drive hide it in my shoe and transfer it at home. This is what they want to stop.
There are simple ways to restrict where USB drives can be used (on specific machines only, in certain domains, etc). You can do the same things with DLP with USB drives as you can with network monitoring and restrictions.
They are. They’re also, AFAIK, the only organization that gives anyone who wants it free online access to run experiments on their five qubit quantum computer.
That’s the way large bureaucracies think/operate.
Under the general staff model (to provide one interestingly different way of managing and organizing) individuals are empowered to command subordinates with few, if any, rules at all. When any individual commander shows notable success, they are moved up the command hierarchy, when they demonstrate failure, they are demoted, if they are still alive. Anyone performing to spec stays where they are.
If your opponents are following rules, and you aren’t, you have a huge advantage of flexibility. However, many organizations do not like the way that non-bureaucratic models allow meteoric rise of talented individuals by merit; rules-based bureaucracies are much better for keeping the untermenschen in their place and the hereditary rich at the top.
Um, that’s actually no longer a “Recommended Standard”, but an actual finalized standard. Call it EIA-232. 
Banning removable media across the board is impossible and doesn’t make any sense. If that’s really what they intend to do, then they’re almost certain to fail.
Ban their use of ordinary office workers by disabling the USB mass storage feature in their PCs? Sure makes sense.
Will they ban SD/CF cards from use by the corporate photographer?
How will they boot the routers and switches that run the LAN? Many rely on removable storage. (yes, you can often net-boot these things, but how far can you stack those turtles?)
The ports and people are the issues, not the devices.
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